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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 14, 1992)
--1 NU beats MTSU, looks ahead 80/65 Partly sunny with a 1 1 chance of thunderstorms both today and tomorrow. Cult steps up campus efforts, official says Fundamentalist group goes after new students By Shelley Biggs Senior Reporter__ The Lincoln Christian Church, a fundamentalist religious orga nization that has been linked to a cult, has increased recruiting efforts on campus this semester, a UNL offi cial said. The group, which targets new stu dents, has been seen recruiting this year in University of Ncbraska-Lin coln residence halls and at campus supported activities, such as concerts sponsored by the University Program Council, Peg Blake, assistant vice chancellor for student affairs, said. Lincoln Christian, which has been called the Lincoln Church of Christ, has been linked to the Boston Church of Christ. The Cult Awareness Net work of Chicago has identified the Boston church as a cult. Lincoln Christian is not affiliated with the traditional Churches of Christ in Lincoln. Larry Doerr, a campus min isler for the United Ministries in Higher Edu cation, said Lincoln Christian mis used friendship to gain members. “They deal with people who arc vulnerable due to their loneliness,” he said. Because of their new surround ings, new students arc considered to be more vulnerable to the group, Blake said. In the past, group members were reported to be overly friendly and inviting to new students, she said. Once the group convinces a student to join, it reportedly uses alienation tac tics and mind control to keep the new member involved. Students involved in the group do not have lime to study and often end up dropping out of college, Blake said. As well as using techniques such as sleep and food deprivation, the group continually questions its members’ beliefs and isolates them from family and friends, she said. A support group was organized last spring for parents of those in volved in Lincoln Christian, Docrr said. The support group, which pro vides an outlet for parents’ frustra tions, has between 30 and 35 mem bers, with parents coming from as far as North Platte. Lincoln Christian isassociatcd with Campus Advance, which tried to be come a UNL-recognized student or ganization last year. The effort faded when the group’s faculty adviser, Philip Hugly, chairman of the phi losophy department, withdrew his sponsorship after discovering group members were actively trying to con vert students to their beliefs. A full-page warning about Lincoln Christian appears in today’s Daily Nebraskan to warn students of the group’s intentions, Blake said. The advertisement was paid for through private donations, Doerr said. Blake said she encouraged stu dents to take a serious look at reli gious groups on campus before join ing them. “Students ought to be good con sumers when choosing a religious group,” she said. “They need to ask all the questions that they have and they need to ask someone who is fully informed.” Robin Trimarchi/DN David Hibler sits near the site where a UNL student was raped in September 1988. Hibler, an assistant professor of English, is compiling a book of first-person accounts of rape and tips on rape education. Rape survivors speak Handbook relates experiences, helps in healing process By Shelley Biggs Senior Reporter_ For victims of rape, the road to be coming a survivor can be hard to find. But David Hiblcr, an assistant professor of English at UNL, is committed to lighting the path. Since the fall of 1988, Hibler has been collecting and revising University of Nc braska-Lincoln students’ accounts of rape. Hiblcr said he hoped the result of his work — a handbook — would encourage other victims of rape to step forward and begin the healing process. The handbook, titled “College Students and Rape," is a collection of eight stories: five by women who have been raped and three by men who have raped. The book also includes “practical advice” for rape victims from professionals who have worked with sexual assault victims. The purpose of the book is to help other rape victims come forward by identifying with the personal accounts in the handbook, Hibler said. Identification with others helps victims feel comfortable talking about their assaults — a crucial step in becoming a survivor, he said. “The purpose is to try to call together, in the covers of a book, the telling perspective that will assist people in putting their expe riences in a cultural context to let them know that they aren’t alone,” Hibler said. The book is scheduled to be published in December and will be available to students by next semester, he said. All the personal narratives arc finished, but he still is working on the practical advice section, he said. Hibler said the idea for the survival hand book originated with one of his students’ papers. The student wrote about being raped on the way to her car after studying late at a campus building. He described the account as “one of the most powerful documents on sexual assault that I have ever seen.” The UNL student’s story gained national attention when New York Times columnist Anna Quindlcn referred to it in a May 6. 1990, column titled “A Bias Crime/’ In her column, published on the anniversary of the rape of the Central Park jogger, Quindlcn explained how moved she was by the student’s paper. Quindlcn wrote,“Four times I’ve read it, and I’m waiting for the time when I do not cry.” Hibler said he began compiling informa tion for the handbook after Shawn Kearney, a UNL student and rape survivor, went public about her ordeal during an NU Board of Regents meeting last May. Kearney, also one of Hiblcr’s students, wrote an account of acquaintance rape that will be featured in the handbook. Her com ing forward with her story drew attention to Hiblcr’s quest. Since then, Hiblcr has elicited help from others in writing his book. Quindlcn has agreed to write the preface of the book, UNL Chancellor Graham Spanicr will write the foreword, and Regent Margaret Robinson of Norfolk will write the afterword. It is important to point out that the book will not focus on the subject of rape on campus, Hiblcr said. Instead, it will look at the way college students interpret and deal with rape. “The whole phenomenon of rape has to do with the way college students handle rape,” he said. “Sexual assault is a reality, but many assaults do not occur in college.” The emotional baggage that victims of sexual assault carried with them could cause immense strain, Hibler said. Men also will find the writings useful, because there is such a difference between the way men and women look at rape, Hibler said. Personal writings may help men to understand the horrors of rape, he said. “It’s not a woman’s problem, it’s a hu man problem,” he said. Grade reports may include minuses in ’94 By Ted Taylor Staff Reporter If a proposed change in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln grading policy is ac cepted, students may be seeing minuses on their grade reports as soon as 1994. James Ford, an associate professor of En glish at UNL, has proposed adding minuses to the university grading scale, which currently awards only pluses. “I’ve been thinking about this for the past 10 years and wondering why we haven’t the same system as most other universities,” Ford said. UNL is one of only three universities in the nation that has a system in which pluses and no minuses arc awarded, Ford said. “Many professors often give min us grades to daily assignments,” he said. “So when it comes lime to average all those grades, a minus is often the result, but (faculty) don’t have that option.” Because of that limitation, in many cases, See GRADE on 6 UNL rec center top in Big Eight, director says By Alan Phelps Senior Editor Although the official dedication ceremony for the UNL Campus Recreation Center was • not until Saturday, many students and faculty already were well-acquainted with the new building. Stan Campbell, director of campus recre ation at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, said that in the yearlong period ending June 30, 478,000 people passed through the health and fitness center’s doors. In the first six days since the last phase of the project was completed Aug. 24, he said, 16,000 people used the build ing. “When that 2:20 class lets out until about 8, it’s absolutely packed,” Campbell said. About 100 people showed up for the dedica tion ceremony to hear officials such as UNL Athletic Director Bob Dcvaney and UNL Chan cellor Graham Spanicr speak, Campbell said. Many football fans also look advantage of an open house at the recreation center before the Comhuskcrs’ game with Middle Tennessee State. Campbell is familiar with the new recreation center, which includes an indoor football field;» a myriad of courts for racquctball, basketball, volleyball and other activities; a jogging track; a weight room; and a combative arts room. He was among those who fought for the $14.9 million project since it began gathering steam See RECREATION on 6 , ;